State health officials told the Boston Globe that the number of influenza cases has increased dramatically in the past several weeks, and the level of illness has already surpassed the peaks of the last two flu seasons.

In Massachusetts, flu cases don't usually spike for another month.

“Flu typically peaks around early February,” said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, an infectious disease specialist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. “Back in 2003, we had an early flu season, and that was the last one that started before the holidays.”

The newspaper reported that 3,736 patients have laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu so far this season, compared to just 126 at this time last year.

That is probably a small fraction of the number who were sickened with the flu, because most people do not get tested to confirm the illness.

A day after Trevor Noah was declared the new host of "The Daily Show," complete with the blessing of the exiting Jon Stewart, graphic tweets targeting women, Jews and victims of the Ebola virus are causing a social media backlash.